New changes at the Journal

Albany, Ga – For readers of The Albany Journal, you may have noticed a few slight changes. Following the new initiative to open up journalistic opportunities, Journal publisher Tom Knighton announced new measures meant to keep the 74 year old Journal moving strong.

(File Photo by Betty Rehberg)

“Well, the first thing readers are going to notice are the new advertisements,” Knighton said. Knighton says that the Journal recently began an association with Google AdSense, a large advertising network. “We had to do something, and while we’ve been blessed with the wonderful gifts from our readers, it’s just not enough. We had to do something else,” he said.

Knighton notes that Google uses its own algorithms to determine which ads appear. “There is a process for blocking particular ads, though we’re not exactly thrilled with doing that for obvious reasons,” Knighton said.

What does Knighton have to say to local businesses who are concerned that the ads may draw people away from local vendors? “I’m sorry if that turns out to be the case, but the truth of the matter is that this is a business too. It’s not my job to protect local businesses at the expense of my own. I’ve got a wife and two kids that are counting on me to make the Journal work. These local businesses weren’t buying ads from us, so we had to go somewhere that would,” Knighton said.

Ads are only part of the new changes at the Journal. Earlier today on Facebook, the Journal announced that it would be running content from the Daily Caller Foundation. The Daily Caller is a well known political and opinion website founded by political pundit Tucker Carlson and for Dick Cheney aid Neil Patel. “The Foundation offers content to sites that can give them a sufficient audience, and we took them up on it. The reality is that we have a conservative and libertarian audience that may find the content we get from the Foundation interesting,” Knighton said. “We’re not taking our focus off of local news,” Knighton continued, “Instead, we’re just trying to share more information. If we only have one slot open and there’s a choice between a local story or a national or state level story, 99 times out of 100, we’re going with the local story. It would take something like 9/11 to change that.”

Knighton said his primary focus is to both keep the Journal going and to provide the best coverage of local news he can. “We’re hopeful that the new advertisements will help us build our resources. That will help us reach out and cover more of what’s going on in Southwest Georgia,” he said.